Wednesday AM Bible Study; July 16, 2025 – Genesis 1:26-28

Theme: Mankind—as made by God in His own image—is the crowning work of God’s creation.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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¹In our last study together, we considered what we’re told in Genesis 1:3-31. That whole passage told us the story of how God made the heavens and the earth into an inhabitable place—and also the creatures who would inhabit it—in six literal days.

But in the telling of that story—on the sixth day of that work, and as a final act that concluded and that crowned that work—we’re told that He did something distinct from the rest of His other creative acts. The story of it is found in Genesis 1:26-28; and it deserves our special attention. It’s a very sacred passage that describes how God made creature with whose offspring He would have a unique relationship that would last eternally. In all of His creative work, this final creative act involved the making of a creature whom He had determined to keep unto Himself everlastingly. He would even—one day in history—redeem these particular beings to Himself by condescending to be born among them, and thus be one with them forever to the eternal praise of the glory of His grace. Genesis 1:26-28 says;

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:26-28).

This describes something that we wouldn’t be able to know unless God Himself had graciously revealed it to us. And in love, He indeed wanted us to know it! We ought to be deeply interested in it; because it answers the ultimate questions that philosophers and thinkers ask of who we are, how we got here, and why we exist.

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Now; when we take up the Bible’s teaching about the value, design, and purpose of human beings, we begin to touch on what are some of the most controversial issues of the day. Conflicts over matters such as so-called “abortion rights”, “death with dignity” laws, “gay rights”, “transgender rights”, “gender-fluidity”, “marriage equality”, experiments in “human cloning”, “birth control” and “population control”, “stem-cell research”, “animal rights”, “environmental justice”, and the “human environmental footprint”—just to name a few—are all impacted by whether or not Genesis 1:26-28 speaks the literal truth about the origin, nature, justifiable existence, and inherent dignity of human beings as made in the image of God. History has shown us that, in actual practice, human life has always been either honored or dishonored—either considered inherently valuable and worthy of protection, or greatly devalued and cheapened into a commodity to be either exploited or destroyed at the whims of the powerful—in accordance with how the origin of humanity is understood to have occurred. To fail to study and proclaim the truth of this passage, then, would be to neglect the debt of love we owe to our fellow man, and to fail to be true representatives of Christ in this spiritually rebellious age. In this passage, we’re told of humankind’s nature with respect to two key relationships. First … 1. THE RELATIONSHIP IT HAS WITH ITS CREATOR. In Genesis 1:26, the Bible says, “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness …”; and in verse 27, we’re told, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” And so, the first and most fundamental principle we must believe about ourselves is that human beings are unique with respect to all of the rest of God’s creation in that they are made ‘in God’s image’. Note four significant implications from these words. First, consider the dignity of what the Bible meant by saying that God made us in His image. One theory of what this means has to do with how human beings are made to have attributes that don’t appear to be shared with other creatures—attributes such as the capacity for abstract thought, or a moral consciousness, or an appreciation of beauty and logical order, or the ability to exercise a will, and most of all the ability to have a spiritual relationship with the Creator through worship. Some theologians have called this the ‘non-corporeal’ view of God’s image in man (“corporeal” being a reference to a physical body). Obviously, God, as spirit, does not have a physical body; and so to be made ‘in His image’—according to the non-corporeal view—must refer to non-physical characteristics. This, however, wouldn’t distinguish humankind from angels; because angelic beings are spiritual creatures that—as the biblical evidence seems to suggest—also possess these non-corporeal characteristics. And so, another view—a view that many call the ‘corporeal’ view—argues that we are God’s image bearers in that the human body is designed to reflect the sensory capabilities that God possesses. Though God is spirit in nature and does not require physical eyes, ears, hands, and a mouth, He nevertheless ‘sees’, and ‘hears’, and ‘feels’, and ‘speaks’. And so, this view argues that God made us in His image, in that He designed us in such a way as to experience the same capacities—in a body—that He experiences without a body. This, however, wouldn’t really distinguish humanity from animals. They are created beings that aren’t said to have been made in the image of God; but they, to some degree, have these capacities in a physical body. One form of the ‘corporeal’ view, however, takes into account that the triune God—knowing the end from the beginning—decreed that the redemption of humanity would involve the incarnation of the Son of God in a body. This particular form of the ‘corporeal’ view—perhaps the most truly ‘corporeal’ view of all—holds that man is designed to be an appropriate reflection of what the eternal Son of God would become in history as a result of the incarnation … and what He would eternally remain in terms of the fully dignity and glory of humanity in His human physical body, His human mind, His human will, His human emotion, and His human nature. In other words, Jesus Christ—the incarnate Son of God—served as the model for how humankind would be made on the sixth day of creation, rather than humankind serving as the model for what Christ would be in His incarnation. As Dr. Henry Morris put it,

Both in body and in spirit, Christ was indeed Himself the image of God (Hebrews 1:3; Colossians 1:15; 2 Corinthians 4:4). It does not seem too much to infer that God made man in the image of that body which He would Himself one day assume. In this sense, at least, it is true that, physically as well as spiritually, man was both made and created in the image and likeness of God the Son. ²

To some degree—because of the limited information we’re given—the full meaning of the image of God in humankind must remain a mystery. But however this ‘image’ is understood, this much is clear: It affirms to us mankind’s infinite value. As Psalm 8:4-5 puts it,

What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor (Psalm 8:4-5).

So; we’d have to say that those worldly viewpoints and philosophies which deny the dignity of humankind above all other created things in effect degrade humanity. Those who advocate them deny their Creator’s own testimony about true human dignity, and even dishonor the dignity that Christ Himself forever gave to human beings through becoming a member of humanity in His incarnation. Second, consider the uniqueness of the relationship to man as “made in the image of God”. This is illustrated to us in the manner in which God created him. The account of humankind’s creation in Genesis 2 tells us;

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being … And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man (vv. 7, 21-22).

This is not a contradictory account of human creation, as some have suggested, but is rather a complementary one. It gives us further details about the nature of God’s creative work on the sixth day. The Hebrew word for ‘man’ is adam, and it is taken from the Hebrew word for ‘ground. ‘ Man is made of dust; and yet, of no other creature—not even the angels—are we told that God created them by hand in this way, or that He personally breathed His own breath of life into them. This describes an intimacy in God’s creative work that truly makes humankind unique. Mankind’s identity and profound value as “made in the image of God” were not lost when Adam fell into sin. In Genesis 9:6—after the flood—Noah and his family were told, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.” We read in James 3 of the dangers of the tongue; and are told in verse 9, “With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God.” In other words, man’s immeasurable value remains as true now after the fall as it was at the time of his creation; and each individual human being must thus be treated with respect as a being worthy of dignity at all stages of life—from the time of conception in the womb (Psalm 139:13-16) all the way to the frailty of old age (Psalm 71:9). This is true even if that individual is a hard-hearted sinner who lives in a way that is utterly inconsistent with his or her essential dignity as an image-bearer of the Creator. Anyone who maliciously attacks, seeks to murder, or degrade any human being for personal reasons does a dreadful thing. They dare to attack God’s own image. Third, consider that the full identity of “man” as made in the image of God is declared to involve both Eve and Adam. “Man” as such is not fully understood as ‘made in the image of God’ except when it’s recognized that—as the Scriptures say—“male and female He created them”. This gives the full dignity of the image of God to woman just as much as to man. Those philosophies and viewpoints that deny the dignity of women in favor of men, or that deny the dignity of men in favor of women, end up denying what God’s own word has declared to be true about humanity as both “male and female”. This means that any alternative viewpoint to God’s created order—that is, the denial of the existence of two and only two genders, or the attempt to mix the two genders into additional genders beside the two, or the effort to transition from one gender to another on the claim that neither are permanently as God created them to be—constitutes resistance to God’s design for the creation and perpetuation of humanity, and would ultimately bring harm to their well-being. And finally, consider that humankind was made for a relationship of love with its Creator. A hint of this essential aspect of humankind is given to us in verse 26; where we’re told, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness …” The “Us” of this verse suggests to us what we know more clearly from the greater light of the New Testament—that God, in the essential nature of His being is a Plurality (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit); and that the three Divine Persons of the Triune Godhead enjoy an eternal relationship of love. “God is love”, we’re told in 1 John 4:8; and this is true—not merely in a sentimental and emotional sense—but in the sense that the one true God is a Trinity of Persons who are in an eternal relationship of love with one another. And just as God is relational in His essential being, and just as God made man in His own image, human beings are relational in the essential nature of their being. The ultimate goal of God’s saving grace is to bring redeemed men and women into the overflow of divine love that the Triune God enjoys together forever. As Jesus prayed to the Father for His disciples in John 17,

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:20-24).

Salvation for humanity is, ultimately, a reconciliation unto an eternal ‘relationship’ of love with God. Thus, the apostle Paul could close one of his letters with this blessing: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen” (2 Corinthians 13:14). So; those are the aspects of the relationship humankind has—by design—with its Creator. Now consider … 2. THE RELATIONSHIP IT HAS WITH THE REST OF CREATION. The nature of the first human couple is also evident in the fact that God gave them “dominion” over the rest of creation. After having said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness”, God then went on to say, “let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth” (Genesis 1:26). After making Adam and Eve, God blessed them and gave them this mandate: “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (v. 28). As was true of God’s image in man, this mandate also was not lost in the fall. In Genesis 9:1-2, when Noah’s family emerged from the Ark, God repeated this mandate to them; saying to Noah and his children,

“Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand” (Genesis 9:1-2).

This means that those viewpoints and philosophies that see humanity as a harmful intrusion on the planet stand in complete opposition to God’s declared mandate to Adam and Eve. But the fact that the first work that God gave to Adam was that of tending the garden shows that his “dominion” role was not to be a destructive one; but rather a care-giving one that benefited the creation and that met his needs. It’s absolutely consistent with the Bible’s story of the creation of mankind to insist that human beings are responsible to care for creation respectfully and to use its resources wisely. The depth of the relationship of humankind with the rest of God’s creation is illustrated in the fact that God gave Adam the task of naming the others of His creatures. In Genesis 2:19-20, we’re told,

Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field (Genesis 2:19-20).

God’s command to name the beasts that He brought to Adam gave humankind a demonstrable supremacy over all other earthly creatures. But more than that, it also required the work of careful study on the part of Adam in order to capture the essence of each creature in a single name. We shouldn’t overlook the importance of this. As one writer put it,

It is probable that we think too little rather than too much of naming as a first step in knowledge. To give names which endure is with few exceptions the prerogative of genius.³

This early task of Adam justifies Man’s legitimate work of scientific inquiry into the nature and operations of God’s creation, his careful management and purposeful use of all the resources that God gives him in this created realm, and his joyful reflection of the things that he learns of creation in the arts. The faithful labors of the scientist, the workman, and the artist all honor God the Creator in their proper domains.

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¹Much of the material for this study was adapted from the Bethany Bible Church study, Genesis & A Biblical Worldview (2012), Lessons 8 and 9.

²Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1976), p. 75.

³Bernard Bosanguet, cited in Daniel Sommer Robinson, The Principles of Reasoning, 3rd ed. (New York, London: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1947), p. 16.

AE